Frédéric Fekkai Is Launching a French Skin-Care Brand

By the time I’m 40, I’d like to achieve the graceful laugh lines, golden glow, and subtle fragrance of a chic, tousled French woman. It’s not just me, either. There’s a whole sector of the beauty industry dedicated to sprays that give women artful bedhead and Riviera-esque tans. A girl can dream, can’t she?

The latest beauty icon to enter the Francophile fray is none other than hair guru Frédéric Fekkai, who recently purchased Cote Bastide, a 26-year-old skincare company based in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence, France. He plans to develop the simplified line (he’s just calling it Bastide) into a vintage-feeling collection of creams, serums, and fragrances, according to a report from Women’s Wear Daily. Fekkai, who sold his namesake line to Proctor and Gamble in 2008, isn’t planning to jump into shampoos and hair masks quite yet. He’s apparently waiting out a non-compete clause from the sale, but may one day bless our follicles again when the contract expires in 2020.

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For now, Fekkai plans to focus on wholesome ingredients born out of the Provencal lifestyle and landscape: honey, amber, and lavender. He hopes to elevate the Aix-en-Provence brand, focusing on artisanal products and time-tested techniques instead of low-end purple soap made for your great aunt to purchase on her trip to France. In other words, think more Aesop then Bath & Body Works for this particular line. Early photos from Bastide’s up-and-running Instagram show luxurious hand creams in oil paint-like tubes (an ode to post-impressionist Paul Cezanne, who famously painted in the region, perhaps) and thick glass bottles. Just what we like best: a product that wears beautifully, with packaging that’s almost too pretty to put on a bathroom shelf. On top of a quality product, Fekkai even promises Bastide will boost the economy of Aix-en-Provence, using local manufacturers to produce its offerings.

If you’re anxious to get your hands on Bastide’s products and start feeling a little more like Amelie, not to worry. The brand’s U.S. site will open for business January 11, and there are already plans in place to build a New York concept store. La vie en rose, indeed.

Now watch as Lola Rykiel takes us through her très Magnifique beauty routine: